Academe Today

Diversity

This College Is on the Front Lines of America’s Divides. Here’s How It’s Working to Bridge Them.

Diversity-hiring strategies, cultural-competence training, curricular changes, and a busy student-heritage calendar are among the efforts at MiraCosta College, in Southern California. But these practices are controversial and difficult, with setbacks and resistance at every step.

Research

Scholars Describe an ‘Incalculable Loss’ as a Museum in Brazil Goes Up in Flames

A few researchers rushed into the burning building to haul out artifacts before the growing inferno forced them out.

Graduate Students

Avital Ronell Blowback Has Entered College Classrooms. Here’s How Scholars Are Responding.

Professors are grappling with how to teach works by an academic star found responsible for harassment — and by her broad network of supporters.

Faculty Hiring

Do Chief Diversity Officers Help Diversify a University’s Faculty? This Study Found No Evidence

Researchers detected no real increase in faculty diversity at universities that had hired diversity officials. But, as one author of the study explains, it’s complicated.

Academic Freedom

Purdue U. Global Drops Controversial Nondisclosure Agreement for Professors

Faculty members at the institution, formerly the for-profit Kaplan University, will no longer have to pledge to avoid sharing nonpublic information about it. 

Leadership Insights: Innovation

Our latest booklet aims to help college leaders build a culture of innovation on their campuses. It includes examples of how colleges are developing and implementing new approaches; tips on what it takes to be an innovative president; and ways to look for ideas outside of higher ed. Buy your copy in the new Chronicle Store.

Advice

My Graduate Adviser: What Did He See in Me?

A new assistant professor recalls his mentor in mulling how to choose his own graduate students.

Lingua Franca

Turning the Fashionable ‘Bespoke’ on Its Head

Anne Curzan is intrigued by the possibility that another word may have come to mean its opposite.